Lights not working again

[Ada7]

Took my car out for time in ages the other day and whilst out my head lights and dash lights died on me.
I\'ve had this happen before, last year. The fuse box holding the TNS relay hangs upside-down under my intercooler and i\'m guessing a bit of water must have got into the box and killed it off even though i\'d taped it up to stop that happening. So i swapped it over the relay to a good one and all was good.
So i thought thats what must have happen this time so I got another relay. Turned the car on and at first the lights worked straight away :xconfused but then went off again (guessing my relay must still be ok then). I swapped it over to the new one anyway but this didn\'t help and now still nothing works and the high beam light on the dash stays on whether the relay is in or not :confused:

Help please :o

Adam

[Ada7]

Should add that the lights died when I turned the fog light on so think it could be an earth or short but I\'ve not touched the electrics so can\'t see it being a short really

Adam

[TRIND-FD]

I had a similar problem where the highbeam light stayed on, on the dash.  , my problem was the headlight switch assembly. Could be worth changing it to test. . I have one you could try if you want.

Keith

[leefitz]

what about the main (HEAD) fuse next to the battery? would kill the head lights if it went, not sure about the dash ones but its worth a look
 
lee

[batman]

on the three pin plug ad you need to get a meter or a test light to see if you have power and earth in the right places a meter is better so you can see what the voltage is . there is nothing stopping you and its not unsafe to run a little wire straight into the back of the three pin socket and put it or hold it stright to and earth point to eliminate the bad earth theory ( obviously im talking about the earth side of the plug dont do it were the 12 vs comes from or youll blow a fuse or relay! ). also you can check to see where the relay plugs in the voltage there do you under stand relays or would you like a diagram for that aswell ?

[Ada7]

What 3pin plug do you mean?
And yes to any diagrams, drawings or even showing up unexpectedly and helping me out with it :p

Adam

[RobMatthews]

the h4 lampholder 3 pin plug, cant quite remember what colour negitive is black i think, run a peice if wire from the back of that plug to a bolt and see if the lights work if so then thats your problem.

rob

[Ada7]

I wish I was clever enough to know what you guys are talking about :o:confused:

Adam

[TRIND-FD]

I have a meeting in Guildford weds. If you want to meet up. I will bring a multimeter n spare switch assembly.

[batman]

 
right ive tried to keep this simple hence the 4 year old scribble
 
on your car wiring you will have two of the above for the lights
 
at the back of the bulb pull out the three pin connection. on this plug will be an earth, a live wire when the lights are on main beam and a live when they are  on full beam.
 figure out which is the earth then connect a bit of wire from the earth plug to a good earth this  can be the negative on the battery then check if your lights are better . this will prove or disprove a bad or weak earth ,
if they are  the same then check with a volt meter if any and what voltage the full and main beam out put is . this will tell you that the relays not working properly .
if this is the case go to the relay and test to see you have the above( picture ) a good 12v feed thats always there . a good earth always there . a feed coming in from the switch on the stork . and a feed coming out to the lights .
if there is nothing from the stork then the switch inside the stork isnt working its a faulty switch .
if these are all present and correct its a faulty relay .
if these are all correct and you still have trouble then youll have to either run new cable  or trace every wire to make sure nothings snagged or  shorting out causeing the fault .
while your there also check the light dimmer if this isnt plugged in right or faulty it can mess with the lights
 
if all else fails wait for trind or i do hourly work lol
>

[Ada7]

Thanks for that i think i can follow it ok
Trind, i\'m working till 7 on wednesday but if i\'m still stuck i may come meet up with you but the only problem then is it\'ll already be dark and i\'ll still have no lights :o

Adam

[Ada7]

Have managed to get the front lights to work now but the rears still aren\'t coming on :confused:

Adam

[RobMatthews]

i bet my money on a dodgy tns relay, will have a look at the wiring diagrams in closer detail later to try help you out,
have you got a mulitmeter?

[Ada7]

I\'ve swapped over the TNS relay and thats the result :confused:
No sadly i dont have one or have access to one

Adam

[Ada7]

I had fixed them but... they\'re not working again....
Took the car to work as everything was working and i thought i\'d start cleaning it after a winter of neglect and wanted it to look good for the Brighton run. Anyway, gave it a hoover out and then started polishing the engine up. Had to go out on jobs to left it all open to let it air a bit (was a bit musty inside)
Got back to base to go home only to find the battery completely dead. Stupid me had left the door over and the interior light had drained it.
Anyway..... jump started it as left it running to charge up but when i turned the lights on to leave the main headlights and full beams aren\'t working at all. The front side lights, dash and rears all work and i checked the fuse and thats fine to :confused::confused::confused:

Driving home with just side lights in the dark isn\'t fun apart from when people do the \'You\'ve left your lights on\' hand signal to you all the time (Peter Kay momment :p)
Could it just have blown the bulbs or would it be something else??

Adam